CIAO DATE: 12/2012
December 2012
Institute for Development and Peace
Along with processes of globalization and transnational migration conflicts that were formerly confined to a certain territory have seemingly become dispersed and delocalized. In a number of Western cities tensions and conflicts between different migrant groups occurred that appear to reflect conflict constellations in their respective countries of origin. Approaches to the study of the occurrence of conflicts between ethnic groups in the host countries usually focus on either exogenous or endogenous factors. While the former hold that conflicts are rather imported and therefore a continuation of the core conflict in the country of origin, the latter locate the main reasons for conflict in the country of settlement. Analyzing conflicts between Turks and Kurds in Berlin, the INEF Report at hand shows that these two streams of argumentation are comple-mentary rather than contradicting. Furthermore it illustrates that the conflicts between migrant groups in the places of settlement are not a mere reproduction and continuation of the core conflicts but gain a new quality.
Resource link: Transnationale Migrantengruppen und der Transport von Konflikten. Das Beispiel Türken und Kurden in Berlin [PDF] - 633K